Before and After
by Meret
Summary: Whitney makes some decisions.


Title: Before and After  
Author: Meret  
Summary: Whitney makes some decisions.  
Category: Drama, Tempest Fic  
Rating: PG  
Spoilers: Pilot, Kinetic, Reaper, Tempest  
Email: Feedback is pasted on the walls and gazed at in adoration  
at meret118@netscape.net  
Web Page: http://www.geocities.com/meretsv/  
Thank you to Elrond50 for the football information, and a big   
thank you to Wendi for her wonderful beta job.  
  
  
  
Before and After by Meret  
  
  
Before, he would have just asked his buddies to keep an eye on Lana,  
and if Kent got to close, they'd simply beat the crap out of him.   
Before. Before Clark had helped keep him out of jail. Before he   
convinced him to spend time with his dad while he still could.   
Before he talked Lex Luthor into letting him play with the Sharks.   
Whitney stopped and stretched for a moment. His dad had said that   
was the best day he'd ever had.   
  
He still wasn't sure why Clark had done all those things. Not after   
the stunt he and the others had pulled at Homecoming. If anyone had  
done that to him . . . . He shook his head, beads of sweat flicking  
off onto the grass, and started up again. One mile to go. He'd   
wondered why he kept training so hard after the season ended. There  
wasn't a lot of need for running the 40 in 4.6 managing a store. It  
certainly didn't help him do inventory any faster. Now he figured he  
could get through basic training easy enough. Another example of how   
this was meant to be.   
  
He didn't understand why Lana didn't see that. Especially after  
opening the Talon. After his father . . . . The whole world changed   
after that. He understood Lana so much better now. She needed that   
connection with her parents the Talon provided. Why didn't she see   
joining the Marines was giving him the same thing with his dad? This  
decision made him feel focused, feel totally real, for the first   
time in months. And if she truly understood that, she'd be willing  
to wait for him. He could come home on leave, and once he knew   
where he'd be stationed, she could apply to a nearby college. So why  
wouldn't she promise to wait?   
  
His feet pounded the path rhythmically, keeping time with his   
thoughts. Lana was the only bright spot in this horrible year, and   
he didn't know how he would have gotten through it without her. Just  
thinking about not having her in his life anymore made him ache all  
over. He still had one more shot at getting her to agree when he   
took her to dance in the gym before the prom started. He didn't know  
what to do if she didn't say yes then. Try again at the bus stop,   
maybe?   
  
The morning breeze brought the first, faint smell of the fertilizer  
plant, and Whitney turned to his left, heading back toward town. He  
abandoned the puzzle of female behavior for something he maybe   
*could* figure out - what to do about Clark. Lana had said he was  
going to the dance with Chloe, but that didn't mean anything. He'd   
seen the way Clark and Lana looked at each other. The way things   
stood right now, he wouldn't have a girlfriend by the time he   
finished training.   
  
Okay, he'd just tell him to stay away from Lana. No, he'd *ask*   
Clark to stay away from her. And Clark would laugh in his face. Why  
shouldn't he after being strung up like some Wizard of Oz messiah?   
How the hell had that ever gotten started anyway? Whitney had never  
stopped to think about it before. So, he'd apologize to Clark first.  
He'd been meaning to do that for a while anyway. Then what?   
  
He needed to figure Clark out. What would make him stay away from   
Lana like the Smallville Sheriff's Office from an honest day's work?  
What did he want? Besides Lana, of course. Clark . . . Clark liked   
to help people. Look at all the guy had done for him, and they   
weren't even friends. Seemed like whenever anyone was in trouble,   
he always managed to show up to help. Some sort of hero syndrome   
or something. So if he asked him to do it as a favor - sure. Could   
you please not hit on my girl as soon as I leave town? That'd work.  
*Not.*   
  
Whitney frowned as he completed the turn back to his truck. But he   
could - what if he asked him to do it as a favor? Not for him so much,  
but for Lana. Say he was worried about her, and would Clark look out  
for her while he wasn't there to do it. Man, he'd eat that up faster  
than the football team forced to go on a week long fast. He could   
even get Clark to swear to it. A promise just between guys. If he   
could sell that junk in the store, he could certainly sell that.   
  
He sprinted the last hundred yards to his truck. Grabbing the water  
bottle off of the seat, he poured some over his head, before taking  
several long swallows. He climbed in the truck and gunned the engine,  
turning the air conditioning on high. Yeah, he'd do that before he   
left town. After he danced with Lana.   
  
  
End 


End file.
